A 20-member squad has been selected to represent the British Virgin Islands in the upcoming CONCACAF Under 17 Championship in Florida.
The squad was announced at a media conference early on Tuesday, August 23.
The full squad include Captain Jaden Abrams, Oliver Henderson, Devon Letteen, Sean Samuel, T’Khoi Morton, Orrett Kennedy, Jefferson Frank, Curtis Lane, Nathaniel Williams,
Rush Broderick, Johari Lacey, Azarni Callwood, Dylan Cline, Kyran Samadi,
Sebastian Santos, Emmanuel Etienn, Joel Mars, Samuel Gilford, Jadon Abrams, and Johnny Jay Rowe.
The Head Coach will be Jermain Abrams, who steps up from Assistant as Coach Manley is unavailable.
The men’s national team Coach, Chris Kiwomya is also travelling with the squad as are Maurice Mark as Goalkeeper Coach, Richie Morton as Equipment Manager, Humphry Leue as Team Manager and Levy James as team physio.
The team will be in a group containing Bermuda, Bahamas, Saint Martin, Bonaire, and Guyana.
Speaking on the team was Coach Manley who expressed extreme confidence towards his boys.
He said, “I believe in the team. We played 8 friendly games in the past months, we won 4 of these games, drew 2 of the games and we lost 2. The games that were played were clubs. Men versus the under 17’s and they’ve been doing very good. We started the first game a little bit shaky…and the level come higher and higher.”
“I believe the boys are ready and I like the support of the FA and the managers and all the coaches that have been helping us. I believe the boys will win this tournament,” he added.
Abrams echoed similar sentiments adding “unfortunately Coach Manley can’t be with us, but we will do him proud. The Boys all know each other and have shown great team spirit. They are excited to go and excited to represent their country. Once we are competitive and relentless on the pitch, we will live with the results we get.”
President of the BVI Football Association Andy Bickerton revealed that the team will be partaking in a warm up match prior to the commencement of the Championship.
He said that a pre-tournament game will be played in Miami against David Beckham’s Inter Miami FC.
“We thought it would be a good opportunity for them to play some high level competition before they got to Tampa, plus also we have a number of our players based in the UK and they will be coming over. So, it’s an opportunity for all of our players to get together,” Bickerton stated.
The BVI will begin their campaign on Tuesday, August 30 against Bermuda at 11.00am, with all games expected to be streamed live on the CONCACAF network.
Full schedule
Thursday 1st September v Bonaire at 9.00am
Saturday 3rd September v Bahamas at 11.00am.
Monday 5th September v Guyana at 9.00am
Wednesday 7th September v Saint Martin at 9.00am